The Intern
by EliGardner
Summary: For Sayoko Suzuhara getting a dream internship at Kaiba Corp. was easy, making to the end with her heart still intact is a whole other story, especially since she's falling for her cold hearted boss.  KaibaxOC
1. Into the Dragon's Den

One.

As I surveyed the other faces in the crowed lobby I could not help but feel nervous. They were the best in the world, all handpicked to be here from thousands of applicants. All of them were competing for the same internships at Kaiba Corp. I shook my head mentally scolding myself. I was here. I was one of the finalists.

I chuckled at the word, finalist, like this was some kind of Duel Monsters tournament. Perhaps it was, at least that was the way Seto Kaiba had been handling this, with the same mentality he did with all his Duel Monsters tournaments.

And why would he handle it any other way?

Kaiba's multi-million dollar company and livelihood rested in Duel Monsters. I stared at the ceiling and let out a small sigh. I pictured the young CEO and president of Kaiba Corp sitting many floors above me and wondered which of his lackeys I would have to impress.

The Kaiba Corporation lobby was quite large but from the looks of it, it had never been intended to hold this many people. Cramming fifty or so people in here did not leave much elbow room. I sighed.

Then I pushed my way through a group of newly graduated college students. Each of them was boosting about which top percent of their class they had graduated in. I rolled my eyes.

Rather than monsters, it was egos battling. It was my move. I elbowed a blond in the ribs as I pasted. She was claiming to have graduated from Cambridge. Resentment had gotten the better of me; I only went to tech school. I was gone before she could react. Seto Kaiba really did know how to bring out the best in people.

I mumbled a few pardon and excuse me's as I made my way through the rest of the crowd. Finally, I found a spot were the crowd was less dense and leaned up against a nearby wall. The wait dragged on. My nerves slowly started getting the better of me once again. I fidgeted and adjusted dress shirt.

I caught my reflection in the glossy marble floor. A few strands of my light brown hair had escaped my bun and my mascara was slightly smudged around the corners of my grey eyes. I tucked the loose hairs behind my ears and wiped my eyes.

Just as I finished making the adjustments to my face I was nearly knocked off my feet. Was the blond back for revenge? I looked up. A young man, maybe a few years older than me, with brown hair and brown eyes caught me mid fall. He had a kind face. His hand me down suit gave him the appearance of a young boy wearing his father's clothes.

"I'm sorry!" he spoke loudly drawing lots of unwanted attention in my direction.

"No harm done," I gathered myself together. People behind us were staring and mumbling to one another. I shot them my best buzz off look. It must have worked because they turned away quickly and returned to their previous conversations.

Still flustered the brown haired male gave me another look over and began to poke and prod at me. I raised an eyebrow and gently pushed him away.

"You're sure you're ok?" he questioned.

"Yeah,"

The young man opened his mouth to speak but no words came out. After a few seconds I gave him another confused look. He motioned for me to turn around.

At the end of the lobby was a very attractive woman with dark hair. She was dressed to kill in a black pencil skirt, white dress shirt and red Manolos. She had just stepped out of an elevator. The woman cleared her throat. It took a moment but the low roar in the lobby died down.

"Listen up, because I don't repeat myself," Her tone was very authoritative, no nonsense, "My name is Nori. I'm Mr. Kaiba's personal assistant."

There were a few derogatory comments from the crowd about what 'personal things' she actually assisted Mr. Kaiba with. Nori didn't hear them or had just become accustomed to ignoring them because she continued talking unfazed.

She explained how things were going to work. Groups of no more than seven would follow her upstairs for the interview or what else they might have us. When question about who was giving the interview, Nori just smiled and told us to wait and see.

The butterflies in my stomach became restless as she read off the first set of names. I didn't breath, I had forgotten how. From the way I heard it there was no rhyme or pattern to the names. They were as far as I knew random. Another test Kaiba throw in to keep us on our toes? I wasn't relieved when I did not hear my name, it just meant more waiting.

As the first group joined Nori in the elevator my lungs refilled. I slipped into an empty chair. I took another deep breath. I was ok. This was ok. The interviewer would be all warmed up for when I got called. If anything this was helping me.

"I'm Hiro by the way. Hiro Harazaki,"

The voice came from my left. It was the guy who had nearly knocked me over. He had taken the other available seat. I didn't say anything. I was just hopping the conversation would die before it even started.

Harazaki leaned over staring at me intently, "And you are?"

"Sayoko Suzuhara," I mumbled.

He smiled, "Where did you graduate from?"

I looked up at him. Of all the people crammed in this lobby, why did this guy have to knock me over?

"Domino Tech,"

"Oh a local huh?" he sounded pleasantly surprised, "Well. I Graduated from Tokyo University, business major and-"

Hiro Harazaki really liked to talk. He talked for a good fifty minutes about everything from Duel Monsters to his family back in Tokyo. He only stopped to listen to Nori call up another group of hopefuls. It was strange the first seven did not come back. Nori did not answer when asked about it. Again, Kaiba's personal assistant took a group in the elevator.

Again, I was left waiting.

Faceless suits and white lab coats continued coming and going through the marble lobby. Harazaki had finally run out of steam and had turned his attention to his briefcase. He was shuffling through papers with sweaty hands. At least I was not the only one who was nervous.

Time dragged on and on. Then finally I heard the all too familiar ding of the elevator. The remaining applicants all turned to face Nori as she exited the elevator. Only this time she was not alone. No one in the lobby made a sound.

A blonde was glued to Nori's side. She was trembling. I recognized her as one of the new college graduates, the one I had elbowed. The blonde wobbled out of the elevator behind Nori. The faces in the crowd were shocked. Until now none of the people who had gone upstairs had come back. The young woman kept her head down and walked slowly across the lobby not making a sound.

The deafening silence was broken by a man calling out to her.

"..How was the interview?"

More curious people shouted their questions at her.

"...Who was it?"

"...What happened to everyone else?"

"...Why did you come back?"

She shook her head, her blonde hair flying. She kept walking still staring at the floor. I tried to meet her gaze as she passed where I was still seated. For a spit second I saw her face as her hair swayed. From the look in her eyes she was still crying invisible tears. Black trails ran down her face from where her makeup had run. Her eyes were puffy and red. Even still I could not pity her.

If anything I should be furious, she was around my age. What was going to happen when I walked through the elevator upstairs? Would they look at me as just another fragile girl? Had this stranger killed my chances already? I gritted my teeth as anger welled up inside me. I shook my head. I had not worked this hard for this long to quit because of some girl with no back bone.

But this competition was more cut throat then I thought.

It took a moment for me to compose myself. I smoothed out the front of my pants and watched the girl make her way to the front doors and out into the city of Domino. The crowd fell silent again as Nori began to call yet another group of names. I was about to space out again till I heard the last name Kaiba's assistant called.

"Sayoko Suzuhara,"

I instantly got to my feet and began to make my way to the elevator. This was it, the moment I had been working for, for so long. A nervous grin appeared on my face. It was strange but I looked back at Harazaki for support. He gave me a reassuring smile and thumbs up.

As I turned back around, I tripped. I looked up from my hands and knees, my duel monsters deck scattered around me on the floor. Business attire or not I never left home without my deck. A guy with dark hair and dark eyes stood over me smirking. He had tripped me. I franticly picked up my cards as the others in my group made their way to the elevator. Once I got all my cards together I sprinted over to the group who were already in the elevator.

I heard Harazaki call out to me. I didn't have time to see what he wanted. The doors were closing. I needed to be in that elevator. Pushing a round faced girl out of the way, I barely made it. I slipped my hands into the small crack of the closing elevator doors and they instantly reopened. A sigh of relief escaped my lips as I boarded the elevator.

"Nice of you to join us," said Nori a tad bit of sarcasm in voice.

I didn't say anything. I was here, that was all that mattered. I caught the eye of the guy who tripped me. He smirked and turned away. Apart from another in my group tapping his foot, the ride up was silent. From where I was standing I couldn't tell what floor we were going to.

All too soon the door opened. We all stepped out into a large hallway. Doors lined the walls. A few chairs placed in the spaces between them. A beautiful painting of a Blue Eyes White Dragon hung on the far wall. I did not have time to take it all in before Nori was herding us further down the hall.

"Ok Suzuhara your up," Nori gave me a gentle push forward, "Fourth door on the right."

Swallowing hard I walked slowly down the hall. Nori was ordering the others to take a seat. Once I made it to the fourth door on the right I knocked lightly. It was all I could do with shaking hands.

"Come in. I don't have all day," called a cold voice from inside.

The voice sounded so familiar but I could not place it. The knob felt cool and slick in my sweaty hand. I opened the door slowly and stepped into the large office.

Sitting at the desk was Seto Kaiba himself. The CEO and president of Kaiba Corp had ditched his signature white trench coat for a dark blue suit and matching tie. He was typing on his computer. Kaiba did not even look up for his computer as I walked in. I made my way over to his desk still a bit dumbfounded. My heart stopped. Seto Kaiba was giving me my interview. No pressure.

"Sit down," he commanded.

I sat in the chair opposite him. Kaiba opened up a file and glimpsed over a few papers. I looked over and noticed it was my application, résumé, and transcripts.

"You're kind of young aren't you?" I felt his ice cold blue gaze on me.

I looked up at him, "I'm almost your age"

Kaiba turned back gaze back to the papers and read off my accomplishments. Straight As, graduated top of my class, one of the top ranked duelists in the armature division.

It was strange. I took such pride in all of those things but when Kaiba read them they sounded meaningless. He was less than a year older than me but he ran one of the most successful gaming companies in the world. Nothing I did could measure up to that. I wasn't making an impression at all.

I was about to count myself out when Kaiba's expression changed, "I don't like liars"

"Excuse me?" I blinked a confused look on my face.

He propped up his elbows and folded his hands glaring at me, "It says you can take a Duel Disk apart and put it back together."

I nodded, "I can."

"Listen, no one but specially trained Kaiba Corp. technicians can take a duel disk apart and put in back together and it still work. It's part of the special security settings," he sounded confident.

Frowning, I looked up at Kaiba. He was doubting my integrity.

"Maybe you need to double check your security settings," I smiled. My tone was overly polite boarding on sarcastic.

Kaiba smirked, "You sound sure of yourself. Prove it!"

"Alright,"

I scribbled a list of all the things I needed to complete the task Kaiba saw as impossible and passed it to him. He shot me a look like I was messing with him.

"Q-tips?"

I gave a small nod.

With another confident smirk Kaiba made a phone call. It was not long before a man with a mustache brought me all the supplies I had asked for.

Then in walked an older gentleman wearing a lab coat. His protective goggles were on his head. The ID card clipped to his coat said he was from the technology department. He laid a duel disk on Kaiba's desk in front of me. The man in the lab coat looked at me with pity in his eyes.

"Roland will start the timer once you begin," Kaiba nodded to the man with the mustache.

There was a pause. I had not noticed the stopwatch, "Wait, you're timing me?"

"What's wrong? You sounded so sure of yourself a minute ago,"

Kaiba stared me down almost daring me to start. My grey eyes met his for a moment. Of all the people I had ever met his gaze was the only one I had ever had trouble holding. There was just something about those deep blue eyes.

Without another word I took off my jacket and rolled up my sleeves. I flipped the duel disk over. Roland started the timer. I reached for a screwdriver I had requested and went to work.

Words would do nothing to the arrogant CEO, my actions would have to speak for me.

The first part was easy. All I had to do was remove the outside cover and detach the two wings where the duelist played their monster cards. The next part was a little trickier. There was a security device that if activated fried the whole system. It was meant to keep the technology inside a secret. With steady hands I tucked a Q-tip underneath the tiny security part and as gently as I could removed it with wire cutters. It was a cake walk after that. Eleven minutes and thirty eight seconds later the duel disk sat in pieces on Kaiba's desk.

Roland and the man from the technology department looked impressed but the CEO continued to sit there his expression unchanged, "Now, put it back together."

I did as I was told. It was easier to put it back together. In no time the duel disk was restored to its former glory. I stood up and strapped it to my arm and inserted my deck. The duel disk came alive, all the lights flashed on and my life point total, 4000 flashed on the small screen. Just to prove it was fully functional I played my Magicat monster card. The hologram pounced onto Kaiba's desk and pointed its staff at him.

Kaiba looked up at me as if he had been indifferent to me before. It was as if I was finally standing out from all the other applicants, than his eyes narrowed. The CEO's expression turned cold again.

"Who have you told about this?" he asked coldly.

"N-No one" I stammered. That was not the reaction I had been expecting.

"Don't give me that. Was it Pegasus? Zigfried? EA Games..?"

I looked at him and powered down the duel disk. I placed it on his desk, "Two years ago, in the last round of the regional armature tournament my competitor's duel disk malfunctioned. I was going to win by default. I mean, no one really cares about armature tournaments and I think they just wanted to get it over with," I paused, "But that kinda win didn't feel right. So I fixed it when not one was looking with whatever I could find,"

"You lost that duel," Kaiba recalled.

"I haven't lost one since then," I was quick to reply. I didn't like to lose but how did Kaiba know the outcome of that duel?

Kaiba dismissed Roland. The man in the lab coat turned to leave as well but the CEO called him back, "You're fired."

The man stood there in shock for a moment, "Sir?"

"If Suzuhara can take a duel disk apart with Q-tips I'm sure our competitors have found far more technical ways to do so. You were in charge of that security program. You're fired. Get out of my sight," Kaiba sounded angry.

The man from the technology department snarled and tossed his ID card on Kaiba's desk. He stormed out of the office. It reminded me of a child throwing a tantrum but even still I had not intended for anyone to be fired. I felt a tad bit guilty. Looking down at my feet I moved my weight from side to side nervously. What fate awaited me?

Kaiba continued my interview. I stumbled through the generic interview questions. My throat felt dry. I caught myself rambling a few times and started shorting my answers. All the questions seemed to blur together till he asked me one last question.

"Why do you want be an intern at Kaiba Corp.?"

I didn't realize it but I stood up nearly knocking the chair over. My fist hit the desk with a large thud. For the first time through the whole interview it was easy to hold his cold blue gaze. I felt my heart pounding. I took a deep breath, doing my best to keep my voice and tone even.

"Kaiba Corp is the best," I paused feeling my words shake. Kaiba smirked. I wasn't trying to flatter him, it was a known fact. "I want to work for the best," I finished with as much authority I could muster in my voice.

The CEO dismissed me. Smiling I held my hand out expecting him to shake it, "Thank you for this opportunity Mr. Kaiba,"

After a moment I realized Kaiba was not going to shake my hand. I hurried from the office. As I shut the door behind me I saw him pick up the duel disk I had taken apart and examine it before turning back to his computer. Once in the hall I took a few steps before my knees buckled out from under me.

I had survived my first trip to the dragons den.

Nori helped me to my feet. Her eyes seemed kinder then when she had been barking orders in the lobby. She escorted me to another elevator and told me to hang out in the cafeteria with the others who had completed their interviews. As the doors closed I heard Nori say one last thing.

"I'm cheering for you, you know,"

It made me smile. Her words sounded genuine. Then again, had she said that to all the intern hopefuls to lure them into a false sense of security. I pondered this for the rest of the ride. When I reached the cafeteria I slumped down in an empty chair at an empty table. I could not think anymore my head was spinning replaying the interview over and over. How had I done?

More and more people began to drift into the cafeteria. Harazaki waved and took the seat next to me. He looked exhausted. All the life was drained from his face.

"I did terrible," he whispered, "He's such a hard ass."

I nodded, "Well it is his company."

Harazaki gave me a confused look, "It's Seto Kaiba's Company, I mean the name, Kaiba Corp."

It was my turn to look confused, "That's what I said."

We were silent for a moment.

Then Harazaki finally understood, "Mr. Kaiba gave you your interview?" He sounded stunned.

"He didn't give you yours?"

"No, a man named Roland did," He sounded disappointed. Harazaki sighed, "Well at least I didn't make a fool of myself in front of Mr. Kaiba."

"Like I did,"

We both laughed. It wasn't funny but after the day we had been having a laugh felt good.

"Oh yeah, Suzuhara I almost forgot, you left this down stairs," Harazaki reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a duel monsters card. My eyes widened as he handed me my Allure Queen LV 7.

"Thank you Harazaki!" It was one of my better cards. The thought of losing it, I did not even want to think about it. I took the rest of my cards from the pouch on my belt and added the monster back in.

Harazaki looked very pleased with himself, "You really want to thank me? How about a duel?" He pulled a plastic box out of his briefcase and slid out his own deck.

It shouldn't have surprised me as much as it did that Harazaki was a duelist. I'm sure the most of other interviewees were all too familiar with the game. But the goofy business major didn't look all that threatening.

"It will give us something to do," continued Harazaki.

"Ok you're on Harazaki"

He smiled, "You can call me Hiro."

I shrugged, "Harazaki is fine." Nice or not Hiro Harazaki was still my competition. Getting too comfortable with him could cause me problems later.

Harazaki seemed a little disappointed but shuffled his deck. I did the same. It was the first time in a long time I played duel monsters without a duel disk or even holograms. This was old school. I laughed. Here we were sitting inside Kaiba Corp, the mecca for duel monsters technology battling on paper mats. Seto Kaiba would be so proud.

"Ladies first," said Harazaki a little too sweet.

Two can play at that game. "What a gentleman," I smiled very perky as I drew my first card.

I took an early lead. Knocking Harazaki's life points down to 2100 in only a few turns. I questioned again whether or not he actually knew what he was doing.

He favored machine type monsters, strong when used properly. Over confidence overcame me. I was getting cocky and it cost me. I went to attack his life points directly even though he had a face down card. Harazaki revealed swords of revealing light crippling me for three turns. This gave him plenty of time to summon one of his more powerful monsters, Machina Fortress. (ATK: 2500 DEF 1600).

My life points dwindled down to 1500. I played scapegoat, trying to buy myself some time. With one goat left I managed to summon enough monsters to synchro summon The Tempest Magician (ATK: 2200 DEF: 1400). Once equipped with Mage Power I had more than enough fire power to knock out Harazaki's Machina Fortress. A few more turns passed and I finished him off, not even having to use Tempest Magician's special effect.

"Good job Suzuhara," Harazaki congratulated me. I was relieved that he was still in good spirits.

"It was a good duel Haraza- Hiro" I gave in calling him by his first name. Perhaps Hiro wasn't so bad. It would be good to have at least one friend in a room full of enemies. Also, he was valuable. He knew business something I had never been too keen on.

I had not noticed it but a group of people now surrounded our table. They had been watching our duel. I couldn't help but laugh when I saw one man hand another five dollars. Betting against me is always going to cost you.

From the way he acted after you would have thought Hiro was the one who won the duel. He explained that growing up he was a bit of a trouble maker, calling him Harazaki just made him think of teachers scolding him. I laughed it was hard to see Hiro as a vigilante. The crowd dispersed leaving me and Hiro alone at our table. We spend the remaining time chatting. I almost forgot how nervous I was or how my interview must have bombed.

After another hour or so Kaiba's infamous assistant walked in. She cleared her throat. Nori was far removed from the women upstairs who was 'cheering for me'.

"Everyone but, Akio Soma, Alan Smith, Darren Underhill, Hiro Harazaki, and Sayoko Suzuhara please fallow me," Nori's strong voice carried through the cafeteria. The others followed her without question.

Soon five of us were left behind, an older man, the jerk from the elevator, a man who I hadn't seen before, Hiro, and myself. Hiro looked like he was going to be sick. The older man buried his face in his arms. Even the prick from the elevator had lost his cocky smirk. The other male just continued to sit there expressionless.

Had I just been cut?

My heart was in my throat. If I had in fact been cut I didn't want to be here. I stood up. As I pushed in my chair the elevator doors opened. Out stepped Kaiba.

"Apparently you five are the least incompetent of all the others," Kaiba gave us all a good look over almost double checking his decision. "I expect you here bright and early Monday."

The CEO turned to leave, and then turned back toward us.

"There's only one rule,"

I felt his cold blue gaze on me as he spoke, like he was talking directly to me, "Don't screw up!"


	2. The First Day

Two

The weekend came and went. To be honest, I spent most of it in shock. I had landed the internship of a lifetime. Monday my life would be changed forever. But this was Sunday. Like every Sunday evening I found myself at my father's garage. He was a mechanic, which sort of explained me and my love of tinkering.

The building was run down. One of the garage doors had a large dent in it. Most of the windows didn't close all the way. What was left of the buildings navy paint was worn and peeling off. The neon sign over the building which said 'Tsutomu's' had burned out to were only three letters lit 'T', 'O', and 'M'. Because of this everyone called my father and his garage Tom.

Tom's was closed Sundays but my father never stopped working. Not since mom died. Sundays were the day he got to work on his special project, a 1957 Ford Thunderbird. He fondly referred to the car as Ida. From the way he talked about the thunderbird, you would think he had two daughters. To me it was just another rusted out set of mix matched parts. He used to joke that by the time he had the thunderbird finished he'd have to sell her to put me through college.

Thank god I got a scholarship.

Just like the building and the car, my father was a bit ruff too. He said they all had character and charm. His face was worn but it was still clear that he had been handsome in his youth. My father's hands were scared and he had stopped trying to clean the grease out from under his fingernails a long time ago. He dark brown hair and the scruff on his face twinkled with grey throughout. The only thing I had gotten from my father looks wise were his kind grey eyes.

I wondered how kind they would be when I broke the news to him I had gotten the internship. My father had always been supportive of my decisions and life choices but this was something on an entirely different level.

Back when Kaiba's step father was still in charge, my father was one of the workers who maintained the Kaiba Corp tanks. Once he found out Gozaburo was using the weapons for more than just for warfare, he quit. Even though I had explained to him countless times they no long created weapons, the idea of me working at Kaiba Corp made my father uneasy.

I was surprised when I walked into my father's garage. He had company, a young man with dirty blond hair and brown eyes. The pair were standing over a work bench while my father attempted to pound a dent out of the thunderbirds' door.

"Hey kid. I was wondering when you'd show up" my father smiled. Then he turned back to the bench.

"Hi dad, who's your...uh friend?" I yelled over the hammering. The young man looked so familiar.

My father set his hammer down. "Oh where are my manners? Sayoko this is Joey Wheeler. He's the new Jim. Joey this is my daughter, Sayoko."

Jim was former employee of my father's. I had been on my father's case for weeks to hire someone to take some of the load off him and the other mechanics.

"Nice to meet ya" Joey spoke with a heavy but friendly New York accent. He held out a hand to me and I shook it.

I smiled. "Pleasures all mine. Glad my dad finally broke down and hired another mechanic."

"Oh Joey's not a mechanic." My father cut in.

"Huh?" I looked from my dad to Joey and then back to my dad.

"Well he's not one yet, but he catches on pretty quick" Continued dad. "If he keeps at this pace he'll be better than me before too long." He chuckled.

This was typical of my father. There were plenty of fine mechanics in Domino but he had to hire someone who had no idea what they was doing. My father would say he could groom a nobody the way he wanted. They didn't come with any bad habits. Really, I think my father just loved the challenge. But was it worth all the trouble he could get in if someone found out?

I slapped my forehead in frustration.

"You know Joey here is really good at that card game you're always ranting on about. He came in second in the Magic Kingdom tournament, ain't that right Joey?" My father slapped him on the back and winked at me.

"Ehh actually sir it was Duelist Kingdom" Joey corrected my father.

That's why he looked so familiar. He was no Yugi Muto but Joey Wheeler was a forced to a reckoned with in the world of Duel monsters. One of the top five duelists in the world was working for my father. I found it a bit strange. When I questioned Joey about it, he laughed.

"Well, Duel monsters isn't paying the bills like it used to" he joked

"Oh... You know my dad usually gives everyone Sundays off." I said looking over at my father.

My dad, who had turned back to the work bench, was sanding the Thunderbirds door. "Joey's here by choice, told him about Ida, he wanted to see her in person." my father said proudly.

"She's not much to look at" I comment.

My father shrugged. "Just you wait kid."

I laughed. He had been saying that for years.

The three of us stood around the garage for a long while after that. My dad and Joey talked cars. Joey and I talked duel monsters. We tried explaining the game to my father but he was a lost cause. After a while Joey insisted he had to get home despite my father's pleas. We said our good byes.

"Nice guy, glad you two hit it off so well. Might just get you married off before too long." My father chuckled.

I lightly punched him in the arm. "You really need to stop doing that, I'm not forty, you know. Besides I'm busy, Mr. Right is going to have to wait."

"Yea, yea you know Mr. Right waits for no one. I just want you to be happy Sayoko, the way your mom made me happy."

"I am happy." I smiled at him.

There was a knock on the garage door. Unknown to me, my father had order pizza. I rolled my eyes as he tipped the delivery boy. Shaking my head I took a slice from the box. My father had so many health problems but still kept making bad choices when it came to his health. He claimed he was as healthy as a horse.

I seated myself on the hood of a car. Across from me my father had managed to climb on top of the work bench. He let his legs dangle off the edge.

"So how'd your interview go?" My father asked. He had never been the kind to beat around the bush.

"Uh well" I was hesitant. We stared at each other for a moment. "I start tomorrow."

My father took a big bite of his pizza. "Congratulations." He did his best to hide it but I heard the disappointment in his voice.

"Thanks" I gave him a small smile.

"Just hope he's nothing like Gozaburo, for your sake." He sighed and looked across the room staring like he was recalling a bad memory.

I looked at my father.

He snapped out of it and gave me a serious look. "Just be careful."

Nodding I took another bite of pizza.

"So when are you having me over for dinner at your new place?" My father asked changing the subject.

"Well..." I chewed the pizza. "Still not all the way moved in yet, boxes everywhere. As soon as I'm all unpacked. Promise."

After another piece of pizza I hugged my father and made my way back to my apartment.

The real reason I had never had my dad over was because the second he set foot in the neighborhood he'd make me come home. It wasn't exactly the safest neighborhood in Domino City. It took four keys to get inside. My apartment was tiny and was just as run down as dad's garage. I made the most of it though. I would not be here much longer. Once I showed Kaiba what I was made of, once he offered me a real job, I'd be out of this dump.

I tossed and turned all night. My internship started in less than twelve hours. I was too excited to sleep. When sleep finally found me it was time to get up. I showered quickly and throw on dress pants and a blue button down dress shirt. I pulled my hair back in a ponytail.

Downing two cups of coffee, I got my things together, laptop, paper, pens. I wasn't sure what I would need, what the day was going to demand of me. I throw my messenger bag over my shoulder and locked up my apartment. Then I headed downstairs and on the street.

Domino was still in the first rays of morning sunlight. I rested my head on the train window once I bored and glazed out at the Kaiba Corp Tower off in the distance. It was a gem sparkling along the rest of the sun soaked skyline. The city was truly a sight to behold. I gave a small yawn. I was running on pure adrenalin and coffee because of my sleepless night.

I had lived here my whole life and never seen the city look this breath taking. Perhaps it was the fact I never slowed down. There was always something I had to do, study, practice, more studying, work, I smiled.

After almost a year at Burger World, to help pay for school, I finally got to tell them to shove it. That was the highlight of my weekend. To be honest I was still having problems comprehending everything that was happening. I was now well on my way to my dream job, Head of Technology Department at Kaiba Corp.

I had never seen the city streets this empty. It was almost spooky as I walked the few blocks to Kaiba Corp from the station. The Kaiba Corp tower which was normally buzzing with life was silent.

The doors were still locked. I pulled the handle on all four doors with no luck. Kaiba had told us to be here bright and early, he never specified what time.

"Trust me I've tried all the doors." Hiro smiled at me from where he was sitting against the building. A styrofoam cup of convenience store coffee sat beside him.

I leaned up against the building and slumped down next to him. "What does bright and early even mean?"

Hiro shrugged one shoulder and took a sip of his coffee. "It's not 5:00 am"

"What?" I must have sounded shocked because Hiro laughed.

"Couldn't sleep anyway, besides the early bird gets the worm or something.." He sounded cheerful.

Again, I found myself questioning whether or not the young man was completely sane or if his mother had ever taught him to dress himself. He was wearing an ugly pea green dress shirt and black pants.

We sat there for a few more minutes before a man in a suit unlocked the door from the inside. We hurried into the lobby. Soon we were joined by the older man who had also gotten an internship; he introduced himself as Alan Smith.

Alan was an America. He had dark blond hair and honey colored eyes. He was the oldest of the interns. When his wife left him for a younger man he had gone back to school. He had a good sense of humor and joked about working for a man half his age. Alan was a computer technician by trade but had always had a love of video games.

The Kaiba Corp doors open again and in walked the guy who had tripped me the day of the interview. I stared him down fixated on his dark eyes.

His name was Darren Underhill. Darren's father was America and his mother Japanese. To my surprise he knew Hiro, they had attended Tokyo University together. Darren had degrees in computer science, business, and economics. His résumé was very impressive but never the less was a jerk.

Then silently in walked the last of the new Kaiba Corp interns. His face was just as expressionless as the day we had been hired. His brown eyes surveyed all of us. The man's long purple hair was tied back in a low ponytail. His name was Akio Soman. Like me he had graduated with a double major of computer science and game design.

It hadn't occurred to me till I was standing here with them, I was the only girl.

"I need an extra pair of hands," called a man with glasses. He was wearing one of the technology department's signature white lab coats.

We all looked up at him. I was the first to break away from the group and approached the man. I was just itching to see the inside of the Kaiba Corp technology Department. I gave Darren a shove as I pasted him. The dark haired male just teetered in place and glared at me.

The man with glasses turned his nose up at me. "Q-tip girl right?"

"Huh?" I already had a reputation?

"You got my buddy fired." His words were cold. He looked up at the guys. "How about you?" The Kaiba Corp technician pointed to Akio.

Akio made his way over to the man and they were off. I was left standing there dumbfounded. I was being punished for being brilliant. Making my way back to the group I heard Darren smirk. I wanted nothing more than to slap the smirk off his face and probably would have if Nori had not walked over to us.

I was still unsure about Nori. Kaiba's personal assistant gave us a speech about how we were button of the food chain, forgot about the fact that we the best from where ever we had come from. We had to earn a spot at Kaiba Corp, earn their respect. Just like Kaiba, Nori told us the only rule was "Don't screw up."

I wondered if this was her version of a pep talk.

As Nori finished Kaiba walked in. His personal assistant patted my shoulder and wished us all good luck before following the CEO. They began discussing his agenda for the day.

Soon we were each picked up by various Kaiba Corp employees. An old man with an awful comb over named Greg Medors from Finance took me. The only good thing about this was he picked up Hiro too. As we made our way to the finance floor, Hiro and Greg talked about the stock market. I did my best to sound interested but I really did not care.

I wanted something to take apart, learn about the state of the art technology being created in this building every day. I pictured Akio sitting at a super computer controlling mechanical hands that were working on a microchip. I frowned, that should be me.

Once we were on the finance floor, Greg had us set our stuff in a cubical. I rolled my eyes I had not applied for an internship at Kaiba Corp to work at a desk. The lack of sleep was already getting to me. I was relieved when Greg told us we wouldn't be working in the cubicles.

The relief was short lived. Instead our job was to organize a closet of files. I cringed. Those financial goons probably had not gone through this closet in years. How could anyone let it get this bad? If Kaiba saw this heads would roll.

"We're interns they are supposed to be teaching us." I huffed. I was sitting cross legged on the floor. An open file sat in my lap. I was usually good with numbers but the grids and graphs in the file were so foreign to me.

Hiro grabbed a box from the top shelf and blew the dust off. "You heard Nori." He sighed. "Prove yourself, earn their respect. So stop complaining and help me."

I got to feet. "Ok, let's get this over with. Just hope these guys are not in charge of payroll too." I mumbled.

Hiro laughed.

We made short work of the closet. By we, I mean I did whatever Hiro told me. He did his best to explain what all the files and graphs meant. Sales projections, finical health reports, accounts receivable. The whole thing made my head hurt. Hiro double check everything before we took a box of files he thought should be shredded to Greg.

Mr. Medors looked surprised to see us. The bolding man had assumed the task would have taken us the better part of the day, not a couple hours. As he looked through the box, Greg's face tensed up.

"Why would we need to dispose of these files Harazaki?" Greg asked Hiro.

"These are more ten years old, dated back to when Mr. Kaiba's step father ran the company. No reason to keep functional reports on weapons the company no longer produces." Hiro replied.

Mr. Medors raised an eyebrow. "Now tell me, did you ever consider that we've been keeping them around for a business reference, that Mr. Kaiba has been keeping them around for that reason?"

Hiro didn't even flinch. "He'd have no reason sir. Mr. Kaiba is a great business man. Kaiba Corps profits have nearly tripled, since he took over the company."

Greg Medors mumbled something before taking the box. "I'll personally see to it these are taken care of." He took the box from Hiro. "You know I was just testing you right? Gotta keep you interns on your toes... Hey Amy find these two something to do." He called over his shoulder.

A mousey woman with frizzy brown hair and thick glasses introduced herself as Amy. She spoke quietly and over annunciated every word she spoke.

"Please just take a seat back at the cubicles"

Rather than being productive I spun around in the desk chair. I could add Kaiba Corp file clerk to my résumé. It seemed like my day could not get more productive than that. Hiro shook his head and looked up from the computer at the desk he was seated at.

"Did you know that in the three years Kaiba Corp's had the intern program, only one has been offered a job?"

I stopped spinning and waited for the room to stay still, "Only one every year?"

"No, one in three years," He crossed his arms and leaned back.

"Well, the way you just owned Mr. Medors, I'd say you're still in the running,"

Hiro smiled. "It was easy. The man's an idiot. Did you see those reports, how sloppy they were? His signature was on the worst ones. You could teach him a thing or two about business."

I shot Hiro a look.

"Really though I don't know why Mr. Kaiba hasn't fired him yet," Hiro chuckled.

Amy interrupted our conversation. "How dare you talk about Mr. Medors that way," Her voice was at a normal conversation volume. It was difficult not to laugh at Amy 'yelling' at us, "After he took time out of his day, even with a busy work schedule, to teach you ungrateful interns."

I opened my mouth to say something, clearly we were not being taught anything. But Hiro beat me to the punch line.

"My apologies Ms. Amy, our comments were out of line, the financial floor has been nothing but kind to us. First day gitters. It won't happen again," Hiro's tone sounded sincere. I was not sure who was more surprised Amy or myself.

Amy cleared her throat. "Thank you." The frizzy haired women's voice was back to just above a whisper. "You know it's not his fault, Greg was great up until a few months ago. He made one mistake and Kaiba made him step down as department head. He hasn't been the same since." She got misty eyed.

Hiro got up and approached the women. He gave her a comforting yet slightly awkward pat on the back. "I-I think you two should take an early lunch. Give you time to think about how rude you've been." Amy stumbled over her words.

"Yes ma'am" Hiro said turning back to the desk and gathered his things. I followed suit and walked over to the elevator.

Once out of earshot of Amy I glared at Hiro. "What the hell was that?"

He remained calm and hit the elevator button. "I told you about my father, big investor in Tokyo?"

My first conversation with Hiro was a blur. Partly because how nervous I was about the interview, mostly because I had tried my best to tune him out. Even still I nodded.

"Well since I was a kid my family had to attend these business dinners. I hated them. My mom always freaked out about all the little details. I remember this one time my oldest brother made me eat haggis, do you have any idea what haggis is? It's sleep guts. It tasted awful. I remember spitting it clear across the table and it hit the chairmen of the board right in the-"

I cut him off. "Is there a point to this monolog?"

"Eh yeah, as someone born into this business you learn early on to suck up as much as possible. It makes everything better, even works when you spit sleep guts at people." He said with a half-smile.

"My father's a mechanic. The only thing I learned early on was how to come up with banging insults and witty come backs. Usually makes things worse" I joked.

We boarded the elevator.

Hiro eyed me. "You know, that explains a lot."

I punched him in arm.

The rest of the day was just as mundane as the morning. I sighed as I took my seat back at the cubical on the finance floor after lunch. I tapped my fingers on the desk. Didn't they know I belong downstairs in the technology department? I felt bad I was doubling the work load on Hiro. He did his own work and mine.

He of course said he did not mind, he claimed it was easy and basic stuff. The business major did his best to teach me, but I was a lost cause.

"So why don't they just double the supply? I questioned for the fifth time.

Hiro closed his eyes and spoke slowly. "Because then demand goes way down."

I raised an eyebrow. Before I could respond the all too familiar Amy poked her head between us. As the day went on her hair got bigger and frizzier. It was like a family of kuriboh's had taken refuge on top of her head.

"Suzuhara make yourself useful run this upstairs to Mr. Kaiba," Amy did not even look at me as she handed me a bulky file. She was busy doing more important things, like smiling at Hiro.

"You want me to what now?" I asked, making sure I had heard right.

Amy did her best to lean over the desk in a manner I assumed was meant to be seductive. Though it came off more as a school teacher checking a student's test "Today would be nice." she spat.

I jumped from my seat. Then I remembered what Hiro had told me. I gave Amy a forced smile. "Yes Ma'am." I headed back to the elevator and pressed the button.

I had to wait a moment before the doors opened.

"What floor?" asked the man who was already in the elevator. Instead of looking at him, I panicked. I had no idea what floor Kaiba's office was on.

Silence filled the elevator.

"Well?" He asked once more this time his voice was cold.

"-The floor Mr. Kaiba's office is on." My voice was small. I stared at my feet the whole time as I spoke.

He smirked and I felt the lump in my stomach tighten. My eyes widened, I should have known. How could I not know? Why wasn't I more observant? My worst fear was made real as I looked up at Kaiba.

"My office is on floor fourteen." He stated as a matter of factly.

I took a deep breath. "I was told to bring this to you." I handed him the file, doing my best not to make eye contact.

Kaiba's blue gaze was fixed on me for a moment as he took the file. He flipped through the report. "Why are you in finance?" the CEO asked.

"Uhh" I paused. More than anything I wanted to say I had been blacklisted from the technology department. However making more enemies did not seem like a good idea."-I thought it would be good to learn something new?"

From the look on his face, I could tell Kaiba did not believe me. When the elevator doors opened on floor fourteen I stepped out only to have Kaiba grab the back of my arm and pull me back in.

My head whipped around. Kaiba pulled out an official looking ID card and slid it into a small opening by the elevator buttons. Instantly five more buttons, that had not been visible before lit up. He hit the first one.

The ride down was awkwardly quiet. I did not dare ask why he was doing this. I looked over at the CEO, who stood with his arms folded.

Standing here with him I could not help but think he was quite handsome. Pictures and television did not do him justice. His brown hair fell perfectly around his face, he was tall. Even clothed, one could tell he had an athletic physique and just to top it off he had those deep blue eyes.

Not only was he good looking but he was probably one of the smartest men in the world. He singled handedly changed the way Duel Monsters was played forever.

"What Suzuhara?" His eyes shifted to look at me.

"N-Nothing. Sorry Mr. Kaiba," I answered embarrassed that he caught me staring. The illusion was broken, no long was he the handsome man but my very intimidating boss.

"I'm not doing this for you. You were hired on as an intern to assist mostly in the technology department, I except you to do your job." He smirked. "Besides I already have enough slackers in finance."

"Yes sir." I did my best not to sound happy but on the inside I was ecstatic.

In the next minute the doors opened and I had arrived in the promise land. The familiar hum of computers everywhere, the beautiful blinking lights, even the smell. It was perfect, everything I had ever imagined Kaiba Corp would be and so much more.

People in lab coats stopped whatever they were doing and looked nervously over at their boss. I found it comforting, I was not the only one Kaiba had that effect on.

An older gentleman approached the CEO. Like all the others he wore the white lab coat, but the ID card clipped to his pocket had a gold badge imprinted on it.

"Ah. Mr. Kaiba, we weren't expecting you till later."

"Mr. Rhoads." Kaiba greeted the man. "I assume everything's still on track?"

The man smiled, "Of course. Care to take a look? Still needs a little tweaking but all in all I think you'll be quiet pleased."

"Unfortunately I'm needed in finance. I came to return this to you." Kaiba motioned toward me. Mr. Rhoads looked puzzled, so Kaiba continued. "This is Sayoko Suzuhara."

The older man smiled. "It's a pleasure Ms. Suzuhara. I looked for you this morning. I was eager to meet the young lady who sent my whole department into pandemonium."

I shook the head of technology department's hand, "Thank you? Nice to meet you."

Kaiba told Mr. Rhoads he'd be back later and the CEO headed back upstairs. All eyes were on me. It made me feel very uncomfortable.

I was relieved to find out that Mr. Rhoads was very nice. The old man was a genius, sort of the techy grandfather I never knew I wanted. He warned me though, apparently he had a death glare that put Kaiba's to shame. The man expected nothing less than perfect work from his associates.

My first day at Kaiba Corp ended on a high note, I was still doing paperwork but I was in the technology department, in my element. When Mr. Rhoads told me to go home a few hours later, I pleaded to him to let me stay. After a few failed attempts I found myself back in the lobby heading home.

"You know, the only reason you're here is damage control."

I turned on the spot to face Darren Underhill. My day had been getting so much better too. He was smiling.

"Excuse me?" I narrowed my eyes.

He shook his head, "The only reason you are here is because Set- Kaiba doesn't want you running off telling his compotators about the Duel Disk. You got kicked out of finance so you couldn't take his business secretes too. Once Kaiba figures out what to do with you, you'll be history."

I rolled my eyes. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you're intimidated my me. Not that I could blame you."

Darren leaned into me and placed a hand on my shoulder. "Trust me sweetheart, it's the exact opposite. I feel sorry for you, being built up just to come crashing down."

I did not believe it was possible but my hatred for Darren Underhill grew. As I watched him walk out of the lobby I balled my hand into a fist and squeezed as hard as I could. There was no way Darren was right. Right? I did my best to shake it off but his words stuck with me.

Hiro walked up beside me. "Want me to kick his ass?"

I laughed.

"No, really I'll do it." Hiro cracked his knuckles. "One condition though. You have to go tell Amy there is a difference between being polite and flirting."

"She's that bad huh?"

"No, she's much, much worse." He sighed. "I need a drink. You want to hear all the gruesome details over a drink?" Hiro asked eagerly.

Exhaustion was finally setting in on my me. "Some other time? I really need to get some sleep." I yawned.

"Yeah, you look like you could use some rest...not that you look bad by any means." For some reason Hiro sounded nervous.

"Quit while you're ahead." Alan sighed and shook his head at Hiro as he walked out of the Kaiba Corp tower. The America lit a cigarette. "You know what? I could really use a drink, spent the whole day in marketing, if I hear the words Blue Eyes White Dragon one more time, I think I'll lose it." The blond continued as he let a puff of smoke escape his lips.

The pair went off in the opposite direction of me. Hiro throw a few nervous glances back my way. I turned and gave him a thumbs up, Alan seemed harmless enough. He wouldn't let Hiro get into trouble.

Once I was back my apartment, I fell face first into bed. Instantly I was dead to the world.


	3. Blackout

Three

The walls of my tiny, one room apartment were forever stained an awful off white color. Across from my bed, on the far wall was a kitchenette. The shove had only one burner that worked. Next to the shove was an old claw foot bathtub that doubled as a shower. Rather than housing my clothes the closet held a toilet and small sink. Most of my things were still in boxes stacked next to a small table with two chairs.

I stretched my arms out in front of me as I sat up in bed.

Another morning I beat the alarm? I turned and picked up the small digital alarm clock that sat on the floor next to my bed.

"Shit!" I cursed loudly and tossed the clock aside.

Jumping out of bed, I grabbed a pair of navy pants off the floor. I didn't care if they were clean, I was late. I should have left for work fifteen minutes ago. As I slipped on my pants I nearly tripped but caught myself. I grabbed on to the table for support. I throw on the rest of my clothes and pulled my hair back. It took all of three minutes for me to be out the door and down stairs.

I was about to step outside, when I realized something was missing. I wiggled my toes and stared down at my bare feet. It was only my second day as an intern and I was already losing my mind. Who forgets their shoes? Taking the stairs two at a time, I was back upstairs in a flash. This really was not my day.

Once I was back down stairs, with shoes on, I ran the whole way to the train station. The morning commuters lined the platform, hidden behind newspapers or were preoccupied by their cell phones. Each was lost in their own little world. I continued to hurry along through the station. As I approached the platform to the train that ran directly between here and downtown horror struck me. The train was already pulling away.

The next one wouldn't be here for another twenty minutes. I did not have the time to wait around. Quickly I raced from the station, almost knocking over a coffee vendor, and back out on to the street. I was in panic mode. Being late clearly violated Kaiba's only rule, don't screw up.

I kept running, I was going to do whatever it took to be on time. Failing was not an option. I thought about the look Kaiba had given the technician when he had fired him. I shook my head; he wasn't going to give me that look. Somehow I was going to make it. Lost in my own thoughts I did not even notice the light change to "Don't Walk" as I crossed an intersection. A motorcycle squeaked to a stop just inches from me. The driver flipped up the visor on his helmet.

"Hey, ya have a death wish or somethin' gezz." The driver's New York accent caught me off guard. I was suffering from deer in headlights syndrome, so it took me a moment to process what had just happened.

"Sorry, I'm really late, I have to-"

The driver of the motorcycle took off his helmet and I found myself face to face with Joey Wheeler. He looked a bit shocked.

"Sayoko?"

"Oh Joey. I'm really sorry, but I have to go. I'm super late."

Joey pulled over and got off his bike. "No sweat, I'll give you a ride." He smiled. "Eh, just never mentioned the fact I almost killed ya to Tom." The blond rubbed the back of his head nervously before tossing me an extra helmet he kept stowed in the compartment under the seat.

Soon I found myself straddling the back of the motorcycle clinging to Joey's waist for dear life. I had never been on a motorcycle before and found the whole thing terrifying, but I really did not have a choice. It was either this or face the wrath of Kaiba. Joey revved the engine as we turned on to the main road. We had only gone a few yards when he had to stop at a red light.

"So where am I droppin' you off at anyway?" Joey asked as he hit the break and let his feet drop to balance the bike.

"Kaiba Corp."

"What? You have to speak up it's hard to hear in this thing." Joey pointed to his helmet.

I leaned in closer to him, my chin just above his shoulder. "Kaiba Corp!"

"Whatcha doing going there for?"

"I work there." I said proudly.

"You work for rich boy? I feel sorry for ya." he sighed.

I laughed. "And? You work for my father, I should be the one who feels sorry for you."

Even in his motorcycle helmet I heard muffled laughter. "Tom's been great."

An angry driver behind us honked his horn as the light changed. He waved a fist out of the window of his car and said something about good for nothing kids.

"Gezzz, the light just changed hold ya horses." Joey shouted back over his shoulder at the car.

Joey kick started the motorcycle and we were off. The longer I rode the more comfortable I became on the bike. I slowly let my death grip around Joey loosen. I even got up enough courage to look around at the city. All the familiar sites a blurry streak as I sped by. A small smile formed on my face, this was fun. It was a rush, almost as good a feeling as winning a game of Duel Monsters.

The Kaiba Corp. tower came into sight. Joey pulled up to the curb right in front of the doors. I looked at my watch, two minutes to spare. I dodged another bullet. With wobbly legs I managed to get off the back of the motorcycle without making a complete fool of myself.

"Thanks Joey. I owe you one." I handed him the helmet and shook my head freeing my hair.

Joey dismounted the bike. "No prob. I owe your dad a lot for taking a chance on me. It's the least I could do."

I shrugged. "Eh. It's not that big a deal."

Joey shook his head. "Really, ya know how many places I applied before Tom hired me? I didn't have to go crawling back to my old man because of him." He looked up at the sky very nostalgic. "Besides, I might actually be able to save enough money to buy a decent ring and propose to my girl."

"Your girl?" I smiled. It was kind of sweet to see a guy in love.

"Yea, she's really something." His smile nearly took over his whole face. "Hang on, I got a picture."

Joey fumbled through his pockets and pulled out his wallet. The photo tucked in the crease was of Joey and an older blond woman who was very 'blessed' in the chest. I was about to asked how much older she was then him, but looking at the picture the pair looked genuinely happy. The way Joey was looking at her rather than straight to camera, her hand on his arm, it was one of those perfect moments forever captured by film.

Just as Joey and I said our good byes, a slick black limousine pulled up to the curb behind us. The chauffer got out quickly and opened the door for none other than Seto Kaiba. The CEO was dressed in a white suit and light blue dress shirt. His dark blue tie was a little crooked. I chuckled to myself, I wondered if he woke up late this morning too.

"I swear this city needs a tighter leash law." Kaiba smirked at Joey.

The blond glared at Kaiba. "And just what's that supposed to mean rich boy?"

"I really have to spell it out for you Wheeler? It would keep decent people safe from mutts like you."

Joey's face was red with anger. He let the helmet drop to the ground. Something told me this was a rivalry that went way back. Instinctively I grabbed Joey's arm. Being raised by a man had made me a tad bit scrappy. I knew that look in Joey's eyes, he was out for blood. I had broken up a few fights in my dad's garage, but I had learned quickly it was much easier to stop a fight before it started.

"Hey Joey, I don't want you to be late on a count of me." I said sweetly.

My words seemed to snap Joey back to reality. I showed him my wrist watch. "You leave now you'll have plenty of time." I added.

"Eh. You're right." He turned back to Kaiba. "Besides he's not worth my time."

"Me? Not worth your time." Kaiba smirked. Joey must not have heard it because he continued walking back to his motorcycle. I was very grateful for that.

Joey waved good bye to me and sped off down the road.

I turned back to face my boss. He was glaring at me. "Speaking of late."

After all that I was still three minutes late. I sighed expecting a lecture. I braced myself for the worst but instead Kaiba held the door open for me. What? Staring at him in disbelief I walked through the open door.

"Thank you Mr. Kaiba." It was the first time I didn't stutter when addressing him.

"A word of advice Suzuhara, associating with people like Joey Wheeler is only going to hold you back." he remarked as I pasted him.

"Yes sir?"

I wanted to ask him what he meant by that but I thought it better not to press my luck with the CEO. I made my way over to the front desk in the lobby. Kaiba had made it very clear the day before I was supposed to work in the technology department. However I did not have one of those fancy ID cards to get down there.

"Suzuhara, don't you dare go anywhere your next!" yelled Nori from across the lobby.

Next? I looked over at Nori waving her arms angrily at my fellow interns, who were all seated together at the far end of the lobby. As I made my way over, my stomach did flips. Kaiba had saved the lecturing to his personal assistant. I began mentally prepared myself.

Nori was still chewing into Hiro.

"You represent this company! Good lord, how am I supposed to take you all out like this?" Nori continued on her rampage.

Hiro held his head in his hands like every word Kaiba's personal assistant said was a knife jabbing into his skull. His eyes were blood shot and the dark circles under his eyes were heavy. Dark sunglasses were hanging from the front of his shirt. I felt bad for my very hung over friend. He must have over done it the night before. I looked over at Alan, who for the most part looked the same as he did yesterday.

Darren cleared his throat. "Why am I being punished because of them?" The dark haired male smirked at me. "Clearly you should just fire them and get it over with."

Nori shot him a look, the kind of look one could only pick up from working closely with Kaiba. "I could just have you fired for interrupting me Underhill."

That shut Darren up.

I tried to suppress a laugh.

Nori turned to me. "Please share what's oh so funny Suzuhara."

I was silent.

"Well then." She turned to Akio and Alan. "You two have anything to add?"

The pair shook their heads.

Nori sighed and picked up a leather tote bag that was on the floor next to her. She rummaged through it before retrieving a bottle of water, a packet of aspirin, and a small bottle of eye drops. To my surprise she handed all of it to Hiro.

"I expect all that water gone by the time I get back...and Harazaki burn that tie when you get home." Her tone was tad bit less angry.

Hiro looked surprised but nodded. His outfit of the day was nowhere near as bad as yesterdays, but only Hiro could screw up black dress pants and a white dress shirt. His neon orange tie made the whole outfit clash.

"Future reference, the best cure for a hangover is another beer in the morning." Alan mumbled to Hiro.

Nori turned and pointed at me. She headed toward the ladies room. "Come on Suzuhara, we're already late as it is."

I didn't move.

"Unless you'd rather take your shirt off in front of the guys." She raised an eyebrow.

I saw Hiro sit straight up. Darren slapped his forehead. Alan adjusted his own shirt and looked me over curiously. Even Akio's normally expressionless face had a small smile on it. Quickly I followed Nori into the restroom.

It was a very large restroom. The room was well lit. Eight stalls lined the wall. Facing them were elegant automatic sinks placed on a light stone counter. A small bench was placed against the wall by the door.

I looked at my reflection in the mirror over the sinks. My late morning had left me looking very rough. I had mis-buttoned every button on my wrinkled dress shirt. Most of my light brown hair had fallen out of my ponytail. It was greasy and looked a shade darker than it actually was. Yesterday's mascara was smudged under my eyes, making it look like I had insanely dark circles.

"Your shirt Suzuhara." Nori sounded annoyed.

I looked at her. "You were serious?"

"Fine, keep walking around with a giant coffee stain on your back."

Turning around I caught a glimpse of the large coffee stain on my back. I sighed as I slipped my shirt over my head. Familiar body issues came flooding back to me as I stood there in my bra. It was like high school gym class all over again.

I carried most of my unwanted weight in my thighs and butt. The upper part of my body was lanky and my chest was on the smaller side. I frowned at my slightly teenage boy like figure. What I would give for feminine curves and an hourglass figure.

I looked at Nori who was holding my shirt under running water. "There's dry shampoo and makeup remover in my bag." She looked over at her tote bag sitting on the counter.

Nori must have had the whole pharmacy crammed into her leather tote. All sorts of makeup, vitamins, extra clothing, a pair of raspberry colored flats, another bottle of water, a brush, and to my surprise, a deck of Duel Monsters cards tied together with a rubber band. I finally found the dry shampoo and makeup remover.

"Is this really necessary?" I asked as ran a makeup remover wipe under my eyes. "I mean, I work five stories underground in the technology department. It's not like anyone important sees me."

Kaiba's personal assistant shook her head. She rang my shirt out over the sink. "If you were on time this morning and not off doing god knows what with a biker boy, you'd know we were taking a field trip today."

"Hey, hold on it's not like that! Joey is just a friend." I was quick to jump to the defensive.

Nori shot me a look. "It doesn't matter. Gossip spreads like wild fire here." She eyed me. "Being the only female intern you already have a reputation, showing up looking like hell, with a random guy isn't helping you any."

My reputation? Hadn't I been dubbed Q-tip girl, what more could the other Kaiba Corp. employees think of me. I had not even been employed here for two days. They did know me. Either I must have looked really distort or Nori could read minds because Kaiba's personal assistant continued.

"The interviews were running over so to push things along Mr. Kaiba stepped in and began interviewing some of the applicants himself. I think he did eight or so. Out of those only two were girls, you and Sara King. Unfortunately King cracked under the pressure and I had to escort her to the lobby."

I nodded remembering the blond I had elbowed the day of the interview. It was strange but knowing her name made Sara almost human in my mind. No longer was she just a girl with no backbone and a degree from a fancy Ivy League school, she was real. She had friends and family. People cared about her. What scared me the most was I could have been the one who had a breakdown that day. But why did Nori feel the need to tell me all this?

She must have taken my silence as a reply because once again Nori answered my question without me even asking it. "People seem to believe you did Kaiba a 'personal favor' in order to get your internship."

"The man is a billionaire, what personal favor could I possible do for-" My eyes widened. It took me a moment but I understood. "How could they think that? I mean Roland and that technician were in the room for most of my interview... Have you seen me? I'm sure Kaiba dates models, who I'm sure are more than willing to..." I cut myself off realizing I was ranting.

Nori smiled. "Reminds me of the first year Kaiba Corp. had the intern program. From early on a female accountant was the front runner. She had big dreams of running the financial floor."

Nori paused and cleared her throat. "She managed to make it all the way and Mr. Kaiba even offered her a job, which she of course gladly accepted...But two weeks into her new permanent position her coworkers started all of these awful rumors about her."

I looked curiously at Nori. "What happened to her?"

Nori took a moment before replying, she stared at herself in the mirror. "She let their words get to her and had a mental breakdown so she went and gave her two weeks to Kaiba. But the he wouldn't have it. Kaiba refused to let the first intern fail. It would have reflected badly on him and his company. So he made her his personal assistant." Nori finished looking disgusted at her reflection.

Hiro's voiced echoed in my head, "Did you know in the three years Kaiba Corp's had the intern program only one has ever been offered a job?"

Nori was that intern.

I wanted to say something to her, but there was nothing to say. Her pretty face and distant demeanor were just a front. Under all that she was just a scared young woman who throw away the chance of a lifetime. It was something she had to relive and think about every day she walked throw the front doors. She still worked here but there was no chance of promotion as Kaiba's personal assistant. Worst of all she gave up her dream.

"Don't look at me like that Sayoko. I made my bed and I have every intention of sleeping in it" Nori smiled. "As for this shirt, it's a lost cause." She walked over and to my surprise tossed my shirt in the trash can.

"You know, I'm pretty sure dress code requires me to wear a shirt." I said flatly.

Nori gave me an evil grin. "Just leave that to me."

Five minutes later I stared in the mirror and made a face. The extra shirt Nori carried in her bag was a more feminine and modern dress shirt then the ones I usually worn. Being petite on top the blouse hung loosely on me, Nori made me tuck it in. It was a cream color with a band collar and small ruffles down the front in a line were the buttons were.

She had also made me change shoes to her backup raspberry flats after exaggerating how bad my taste in footwear was. Then she hit my head hard with the dry shampoo and clipped my hair half way up letting most of my hair fall to my shoulders. The biggest change was my face. The only make up I normally wore was a bit of mascara but Nori had taken it a step further and had highlighted my eyes and cheekbones.

I didn't recognize the girl or rather the young women staring back at me. She was the kind of women who could command a room on looks alone, the kind of women who probably could get away with doing 'personal favors' for billionaires. But that wasn't the kind of women I wanted to be. My mini makeover would do nothing but add fuel to the rumors waiting for me outside this restroom.

Nori must have sensed my disproval. "I'm not going to fed you to the sharks, just trust me Sayoko. I'm not going to let you fail, you'll be great."

Like Nori's first pep talk, this one also did nothing for me. I wondered if she knew just how much she had contradicted herself. I reached under the sink let the water automatically turn on, I wanted to wash everything she had done before it was too late. But Nori grabbed her tote and my arm and pulled me from the restroom.

"Time is money Suzuhara." She chuckled.

The guys were still seated in the lobby. Darren quickly pocketed his phone when he saw Nori coming. Hiro was leaning back in his chair with his eyes closed. What surprised me the most was Akio and Alan were having a conversation.

Alan was the first to look over at me. "Hey it is true. One of the interns is a girl. I was starting to think it was Aki here." He grinned.

I knew he was joking so I gave a forced laugh. The male with long purple hair did come off a bit feminine from certain angles. Akio however did not find the joke or his new nickname funny at all. His face had turned back to the expressionless front we had all come to know.

"Ok, Ok. Enough picking on Aki, we're leaving now." Nori smiled and began walking across the lobby. Akio glared at the back of her head disproving once again of his nickname.

The five of us followed Nori across the lobby. Once we had made it about half way the elevator opened and Kaiba walked over to his personal assistant. Nori smiled and handed him a piece of paper. The CEO ignored us. He was discussing something with his personal assistant. We were after all interns, bottom of the Kaiba Corp. food chain, a speck in his universe.

I turned to Hiro. "Where are we going exactly?" I whispered. Maybe I could make it out of here without anyone else seeing Nori's 'masterpiece'.

"I have no idea." He did not look at me as he spoke. His face looked flushed.

"Hiro are feeling ok?" I asked quietly.

He nodded still not looking at me. "Just over did it last night."

"You're sure?"

I had known Hiro for less than a week, but the boy wore his heart on his sleeve. Even a perfect  
>stranger would be able to read him like a book. Not only that but Hiro loved to talk, avoiding conversation was very out of character for him. Something was up with him and it wasn't just the fact he could not handle his alcohol.<p>

"Is there a reason you're interrupting Suzuhara?" It wasn't Nori but Kaiba who spoke. His blue eyes seemed to burn into me.

"I-I was just wondering where exactly we were going." I was a nervous wreck in overpriced shoes. Those blue eyes probably could make even the most notorious businessmen fall to their knees.

He frowned. "Why? Are you too good for a field trip? Or are you questioning whether or not your superiors, people who have been in this business far longer then you could ever hope to be, know what they are doing?"

I was out of my league. Kaiba made the rules. I couldn't win this game against him. I folded and hung my head in shame. He had claimed the only rule was don't screw up, however I was starting to believe there were plenty of other rules, one of them being never question the CEO or his motives.

"Neither sir." I said quietly.

When Kaiba was done, we followed Nori outside and piled into a van. I was in the middle of the back seat between Alan and Hiro. Darren and Akio sat in the middle row, clearly trying to avoid the rest of us and Nori sat up front with the driver.

I watched the city slowly disappear out of Alan's window.

"I wonder why Nori is in charge of this 'field trip', seems strange for Mr. Kaiba to let such an important member of his team be in charge of interns." Hiro whispered so that just Alan and I could hear. The aspirin and fluids seemed to be doing him some good though he still refused to meet my gaze.

Alan shrugged. "You got me. The man must have a good reason."

Of course he did, who better to shape us then the only intern ever to be offered a job. I couldn't tell them that though, it was not my secrete to tell. Most of the ride was silent. Then I finally saw it the destination of our 'field trip', Kaiba Land.

I sighed. This truly mind bottling, worth getting chewed out by my boss for. Sarcasm aside, I had never been to Kaiba's theme park. I watched as more of it came into view, it was like every child's dream. A large blue coaster towering over head, Duel Monster's themed rides as far as the eye could see.

Kaiba Land or rather the Kaiba Dome, the true place were our 'field trip' would take place. As the six of us walked through the park I could not help but smile at the families and children who looked happy.

The Dragon shaped dueling dome was a site to behold. Just its massive size alone was incredible but the KC Grand Championship had been held here. How many of the world's greatest Duelist had walked these very steps. As we entered the arena I was truly in awe. I had watched the coverage of tournament from my home but being here in person was a whole other feeling.

"Ok pop quiz, tell me how would you generate hype about Kaiba Land?" Nori asked as we all walked into the middle of the dome where the Dueling platform was.

"Considering we're standing in the middle of the worlds most advanced and overpriced Dueling Arena I'm going to say a Duel Monsters Tournament." Darren didn't sound at all impressed.

I shot him a look of disproval. "They already did that, The Kaiba Corp. Grand Championship was held here."

All four of the guys looked at me like I had a third eye.

"Oh come on! The KC Grand Championship? They flew all of the world's greatest Duelists here. It was all over the news and broadcast on TV?" I continued talking.

Nothing.

"Yugi Muto, Joey Wheeler, Rebecca Hawkins, That old dude in the mask, Leon Wilson who in a weird turn of events turned out to be Leon Von Schroeder, brother of Zigfried Von Schroeder and the owner of Schroeder Corp." I was still hoping to break through to one of them.

Still nothing.

I paused, "They're Kaiba Corps biggest competitor. You know the one guy on the planet even more girlie then Aki? He has long following pink hair."

Silence. I was starting to wonder how on earth any of these guys got an internship at Kaiba Corp.

I cleared my throat and did my best impression of notorious rival of Seto Kaiba. "Talks with a thick Deutsche accent? Herr Harazaki, Können Sie mir helfen? Bitte?" (Mr. Harazaki, can you help me out? Please?)

Hiro had an aha moment and he snapped fingers. "Mr. Kaiba wiped the floor with him even though he had sworn not to compete in his own tournament."

Perhaps wiped the floor with wasn't the best phrase to describe the duel, but Kaiba had come out victorious. It was also the first time all day Hiro had actually looked at me, so I nodded.

"Exactly," I said with my phony German accent.

Hiro laughed. "Your German is quite bad Mr. Von Schroeder...But I have to say your impression is pretty good."

"Danke," (Thanks.)

A phone went off. Nori smirked and answered it in two rings, like she had been expecting the call. "This is Nori." She paused listening to whoever it was on the other end. "We're here" Nori frowned and added a few yeses before hanging up.

"So kitties looks like we've not the only ones running late this morning, got some time to kill before-" Nori stopped talking abruptly.

"Before what?" asked Darren.

Nori smiled. "Don't you worry your pretty little head about it." She turned to me, clearly wanting to change the subject. "How about a Duel in the mean time?"

"You're-" I cleared my throat realizing I was still talking with an accent. "You're on."

How many other times would this chance come up, a Duel in the Kaiba Dome, the same place Yugi Muto defended his title. Nori smiled. One of the many perks of dueling in the most advanced dueling arena in the world was they had plenty of duel disks to lend. I strapped it to my arm and plugged into the duel arena. Nori did the same.

"Ohh Cat fight." Hiro joked.

Alan rolled his eyes. "If this is your version of a cat fight, you have some serious living to do."

Alan, Darren, Nori, and I laughed. Even Akio, who had been silent since Alan's comment about him being a girl, cracked a smile.

"As the challenger I'll go first." Nori sounded confident as she drew her first card.

I found out quickly that Nori had a thing for fairy monsters. Turn after turn I watched as she summoned some Duel Monsters cuter cards. Petit Angel (ATK: 600 DEF: 900), Happy Lover (ATK: 800 DEF: 500), Fairy Guardian (ATK: 1000 DEF 1000), and Fairy Archer (ATK: 1400 DEF: 600) all made an appearance. I made short work of them. I had done some damage to her life points but Nori had still not touched mine.

"I really did except more from Kaiba's personal assistant." I sighed as my Ancient Elf (ATK: 1450 DEF: 1200) sent her Fairy Archer to the graveyard.

Nori laughed. "You haven't won yet Sayoko."

Nori had been setting up to summon Archlord Kristya. (ATK: 2800 DEF: 2300). I had dug my own grave because I had sent four fairy type monsters to the graveyard she could automatically summon him from her hand. Just to add insult to injury Nori's monsters special ability made it so neither of us could not special summon any monsters. My whole strategy was based on being to synchor summon my more powerful monsters.

I blanked out for a few turns and Nori wreaked havoc on my life points. I was down to 1200 life points in a few short turns. Because Nori hadn't already backed me into a corner, she played a trap called Anti Spell Fragrance, which meant to play a spell card we had to first set it face down and wait for the next turn. To counter I played Malice Dispersion, the spell made me send one card from my hand to the graveyard but it canceled all continuous traps on the field. But getting rid of the trap had not been the only reason I played it. Nori went to attack me but I played Magic Cylinder, sending her attack right at her life points. It was down to this turn, I played Premature Burial, by paying 800 life points I got to bring one of my monsters back, the one I had discarded early, The Tempest Magician. (ATK: 2200 DEF: 1400). To use her special ability I discarded a magic card, which meant I could inflict 500 points of direct damage to Nori's life points.

"Tempest Magician attack her life points directly-"

The power went out. I was left standing on the platform in darkness. On the verge of a comeback, and of course the power would go out. I heard a large thud below and then yelling

"What the hell Hiro?" It was Alan who spoke.

"Sorry, I panicked." Hiro replied in a nervous voice.

I unstrapped the Duel Disk from my arm and put my deck back in my pouch, clearly the duel was over. I slowly made my way carefully from up on the Dueling Platform to the general area where I had seen the guys standing. A small light appeared in the darkness and I heard the distinct jiggling of keys.

Hiro was holding a mini flashlight he had gotten off of Alan's key ring and was examining the damage he had down to American's nose. A trail of blood was trickling from his nostrils and down to his chin.

"Suck it up you baby" Darren shook his head. "Hey Nori, what's going on? Kaiba forget to pay the power bill?"

Hiro slowly and being overly careful walked over to the other side of the arena with the mini flashlight in hand. "She's not here." He said finally after looking the other side of the arena over.

As if on cue, we heard Nori's voice filled the room through a megaphone. "You have one hour to get out of here or you're all fired. Have fun!"

"She's joking right?" Alan spoke in a nasally voice as he pitched his nose trying to stop the bleeding.

We stood in silence in the still dark Duel Dome. Nori had just led us down a path of no return. There were two opinions, escape or be fired. It was only our second day, yet Kaiba had already felt the need to push us, to make us think out of the box.

"I don't think she jokes Smith." Akio said flatly.

"Well you three are the techy ones, do something." Hiro addressed Alan, Akio, and I.

I pulled out my cellphone at first just for more light but then set the alarm to go off in fifty-seven minutes. We had already wasted three minutes. Time was already slipping away.

Alan sighed "It would be a lot easier to think if my nose would stop bleeding"

I laughed, he really sounded funny with his nasally voice. First things first, Alan would be of no use if he had to keep worrying about his nose.

"Hiro give me your tie." I smiled at him.

"Sayoko, I really don't think my tie is going to hel-"

I cut him off. "Just give me your tie."

He mumbled something before untying his tie and handing it to me. I ripped the lining out of it quickly before he had time to react.

"W-What? Why would you do that?" Hiro looked genuinely upset.

Nori had told him to burn it, so I didn't feel as guilty as I should have about destroying the god awful looking tie. I handed two pieces of the lining to Alan. He stuffed it into nostrils without me even having to tell him that's what it was for.

Once Alan was set, it was time to come up with a plan. There were lots of ways to go about getting out of here. Akio was the first to suggest a course of action.

He cleared his throat. "What do you think the chances of us being able to hack the KC mainframe in an hour?" Akio looked at me as he spoke.

"If it's anything like the system back at cooperate, that's not happening." Alan sighed again.

We all looked at him confused.

"Uhhh not that I would know...Oh come on guys I spent my first day in marketing, I had to find something to do, call it checking the security system." Alan laughed.

"But it's possible?" For the first time Akio's voice didn't sound empty.

"We have an hour, it would probably take a good week to decipher all the codes, not to mention you'd have to figure out how to override them and narrow it down to the Duel Dome system, and that's only if you can get over the KC fire walls first, not an easy task in its self." Alan explained. "Unless there was some way to connect directly into the system then maybe I could override it from the inside."

Hiro looked at him. "Uhh in English please?"

"Hacking the Kaiba Corp. system from an outside source is out of the question...I mean we don't have a computer anyways." I answered.

In the dim light of the mini flashlight I saw Alan smile. "Actually I never leave home without mine." I had not noticed the shoulder bag he had been lugging around all day. Alan pulled out his laptop. It was top of the line and still had that new computer smell.

"Why not just connect to the Duel Arena? It should connect back to the KC mainframe eventually" I questioned.

Darren grunted. "One problem Suzuhara it's bolted shut. I don't suppose you have a screw driver too Smith." I looked over at Darren, even in the dim light I could see him pulling on the side of the duel arena.

Hiro squinted at the cover in the darkness next to Darren. "You don't need one, anybody got a pin or a pen...Or a bobby pin?"

Instantly I reached up and unpinned my hair. I shook my head letting the rest of my hair fall to my shoulders. I wondered if this counted as cheating or if Nori had done my hair like this on purpose. Handing the pins to Hiro, I watched as he unscrewed the cover to reveal all the electronic works of duel arena.

He smiled. "Next week I'll show you how to hotwire a car..." Who would have thought Hiro's troubled youth would actually come in handy.

With the cover off, Alan plugged his laptop in. It was in that moment I realized why Kaiba had hired him. The forty something year old man defiantly knew more about computers then most people. I watched over his shoulder as he worked.

"You're sure you know what you are doing?" Akio asked after a while.

Alan cracked a smile but didn't look up from his computer. "Be patient Aki." With those words Alan turned the lights back on. After being blinded for a moment we all cheered.

"Al I think you are my new hero." Hiro joked, giving Alan a friendly punch in the arm.

He laughed. "Don't go congratulating me. We're not outta here yet."

I checked my phone thirty five minutes left. My nerves started acting up. We were running out of time. Alan continued typing occasionally cursing to himself. After another ten minutes he throw his arms up in frustration.

"Kaiba's four digit pin number. Ok? Go." Alan looked up at us all as he spoke.

"Uhhhh blue? 2-5-8-3" I rambled off first. Seto Kaiba was in fact human. Considering no one was supposed to make it this far through his security wouldn't he make his pin number something he would easily remember?

Alan shook his head. "Nope. Next."

Akio went. "7-3-8-6"

"No"

"Eyes. 3-9-3-7" I said

"Nope"

"1-1-1-1" Hiro added.

Alan shot Hiro a look and shook his head.

We continued throwing around four letter words that we thought would apply but over and over it didn't work. Alan was about to give up.

Darren smirked "6-6-5-4"

The blond stared at him for a moment before typing it in. "Hey that's it. Nice Underhill, how'd you come up with that?" Alan sounded pleasantly surprised.

The dark haired young man smiled. "Shouldn't we be more worried about how to get out of here?"

Alan nodded and kept typing. It felt like time was going by faster than it should have been. Hiro was sitting cross legged next to Alan on one side and I sat on his other, watching the computer screen. Akio was leaning up against the duel arena while Daren paced back and forth.

I was beginning to think we were in the clear, but then Alan's computer screen went black. Out of frustration the American stood up and let his computer fall to the ground. "What the fuck just happened?" He cursed loudly and punched the side of duel arena.

"Just reboot?" Hiro asked nervously.

Alan smacked the back of Hiro's head. "It took me forty-seven minutes to get that far." He let out a deep breath and pulled out a packet of cigarettes from his pocket. The American placed one between his lips.

"Smith! There is no smoking in here!" Nori's voice called through the dome over the PA system. We all looked up and saw a large booth that hung from the roof on the wall across from us. Inside were Nori and a man in a suit I had not seen before.

He let out a small growl and pocketed the cigarettes. "Thirteen fucking minutes left, anyone have any bright ideas?"

I was still staring up at Nori in the booth above us. "How do we get up there?" I asked not expecting an answer.

To my surprise Hiro actually replied. "There's a door on the outside of the building that leads up there."

"How did you know that?" I looked over at him shocked.

"Remember Al pulled up those schematics of the building..."

Alan gave Hiro a confused look. "Yea for like a minute."

Hiro swallowed hard. "Photographic memory, only reason Kaiba hired me."

With our new found knowledge, the five of us quickly devised a new plan. We climbed over the rows of chairs in the stadium all the way to the top. There were air vents all over the Kaiba Dome and Hiro seemed to know exactly where they led, however Hiro was claustrophobic. Being locked in the Kaiba Dome was bad enough but he refused to go crawling through the ventilation.

I was unanimously elected to go in his place. Alan got down on his hands and knees. Hiro stood on his back and lifted me up. With the mini flash light in my mouth I detached the vent and crawled inside. I had my phone in my pocket on speaker phone so Hiro could feed me directions. It was not like in the movies. For one, every time I moved the vent would clang and make noise. The vent was also very dusty. After a while I wondered if Hiro's memory was off, he reassured me that I was almost there. Sure enough I saw the light at the end of the tunnel. I kicked the vent in and jumped down.  
>The fall was a lot farther then I thought. My lower half went into shock.<p>

Nori and the man in the suit stood over me nervously. "Suzuhara?" Kaiba's personal assistant sounded worried.

I sat up inside the booth. "Time?"

Nori cracked a smile. "You have four minutes."

As quickly as I could, I got to my feet and made my way over to the control panel. I flipped a few switches and instantly all the doors reopened. Below, I saw the guys cheer and high five each other. I laughed when I saw Alan put Hiro in a headlock and ruffled the young man's hair. From the headlock Hiro gave me a thumbs up.

The man in the suit chuckled. "These fourth cycle interns are something special aren't they Nori?"

Nori sighed. "Oh they're something all right."

"Crawling through the vents is defiantly a new one." The man shook my hand. "It's a pleasure Ms. Suzuhara." He looked me over. "Mr. Kaiba told me you were smart, he failed to mention how beautiful his only female intern was."

I blushed. I had nearly forgotten about my mini makeover. "Thank you very much Mr... eh?"

"Mr. Endo. He's one of Kaiba Corp's biggest investors." Nori introduced the man. "And as you already know this is Sayoko Suzuhara."

Mr. Endo nodded "Shall we go down and congratulate the others, first interns ever to complete the KC Dome challenge."

I raised an eyebrow. Nori laughed. She explained our jobs had never been in jeopardy, it was a test to see how well we dealt under pressure and how well we worked together. The truth was we were never meant to actually compete the task.

I sighed and questioned her about the end of our duel.

She smiled, "We both know who would have won."

After rubbing elbows with Mr. Endo and the long drive back to Kaiba Corp. headquarters, Nori told us all to go home. I grabbed a quick bite to eat with Hiro and Alan at a sandwich place around the corner from Kaiba Corp before heading home. I smiled to myself, as I pasted the Kaiba Corp. tower on my way home. Overall it had been a good day.

* * *

><p>Author's Note:<p>

A big thank you goes out to Kaibas-Rose, fantasyguardian, wierdunusualchick, and pharoah999 for your kind words and encouragement. It is appreciated far more than you know.

Disclaimer: Yugioh belongs to Kazuki Takahashi. I'm writing this story for fun and do not make money from it in any way, the plot and OCs came from my imagination. Please don't send me to fanfic prison! (Kudos if you got that reference.)


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